Man Seized in Apartment Fire That Killed 1, Burned 3

An unemployed Hollywood musician was allegedly so upset over a water leak that he set his upstairs neighbor’s apartment on fire Thursday, killing the 45-year-old man and severely injuring three others, police said.

Alvin L. Nichols, 53, was being held without bail on suspicion of murder at the Hollywood Division station in connection with the 9 a.m. fire at 1225 N. El Centro Ave.

Upstairs neighbor Jack Goldstein was found dead in his third-floor apartment bathtub, where he was lying “like he was taking a bath,” according to Los Angeles Police Lt. Edward Hocking.

Goldstein’s wife, Lisa Rendine Goldstein, 39, who had also been inside the apartment, told authorities she discovered the flames when she opened the front door.

She was rescued by firefighters who saw her hanging partially outside a third-floor window and was taken to Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center suffering from smoke inhalation and first-degree burns on her back. She later left the hospital against medical advice, hospital officials said.

Two other neighbors were critically injured when they were trapped by flames after taking an elevator upstairs to investigate.

Apartment house manager Norwood Lydio, 52, was reported in critical condition in the intensive-care burn unit of County-USC Medical Center. Rachid Lomri, 24, was reported in critical condition in the intensive-care respiratory unit at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

Nichols was arrested by homicide detectives after he returned to the apartment building a little more than two hours after the fire. A witness told police that Nichols had threatened to burn Goldstein’s apartment just before the fire.

“There had been an ongoing feud,” Hocking said. “It apparently occurred over a dispute regarding water leaking from one apartment into the other.”

Hocking added that the fire appeared to have been caused by “some type of incendiary liquid or accelerant.”

The blaze, which caused $35,000 damage, was extinguished in 12 minutes, according to Fire Department Battalion Chief Jim O’Neill.